Love, loss, hope
by sofiaposarelli
Summary: It's 1940 and Bella lives with her family in Berlin. Her dad is one of the chief colonels for one of Hitler's Nazi armies. When he is promoted the family is moved to Poland. Bella then meets her one true love...... but he is the only one she can't be with
1. Chapter 1

Simple, plain, easy. Three words that describes my life. It is 1940 and Hitler and his Nazis are in control of the rest of the world. Jews, gypsies and any people who oppose him have all been imprisoned. My father Colonel Markus is head of the higher ranking commodores for Hitler's Nazi army. We live in central Berlin in a house that is the biggest on the street. Ivy tumbles from the roof of the house and flowers cover the garden in all different colours. Maids dash through the gardens and into the front door of the house looking panicked, trying to get where they need to be on time.

"Bella!" Emmett called from the front door.

I looked up from the book that I was reading and brushed my long hazel coloured hair behind my ear. I looked up at Emmett. He is 15 years old and already acts as if he is like our father, bossy, fearless and opinionated. I got up and strolled towards the door looking at the gardener who carefully inserted three more bulbs into my mother's garden. It was her pride and joy; the gossip at any party we went to. Emmett lent against the door looking very smug.

"Any normal 17 year old girl would be out with her friends picking different coloured ribbons for their hair or trying to impress the soldiers. What is the matter with you?"

I ignored this ignorant comment as this was what he said to me 24 hours, 7 days a week. I wasn't like the normal girls that I went to school with. They were all dumb and naïve. The only reason they were in my school was because their dads were politicians or higher ranking soldiers. They thought that money and social class was all that mattered in their lives. They were not like me. I was intelligent, I had my own opinion, yet it couldn't be voiced. I kept myself to myself and tried to be as invisible as I could. It was not as if I was arrogant of my intelligence; far from. I would much rather be as confident and as beautiful as some of those girls. But, I'm not.

I placed my book on the counter in the hallway and stumbled clumsily into the study where my father and mother waited patiently. My father was sat behind his desk looking as proud and as calm as normal. My mother was at his side with her arm gently draped over his shoulder. My mother is so beautiful. She has long brown hair that is tied neatly in a bun. She is tall and slender and presents herself very neatly. But, the one thing that everyone notices is her eyes. They are brown not anything out of the ordinary, but if you look closely at them you feel like you want to jump in and swim in a dark sea that goes on and on for miles. My grandmother always states how I am very lucky as I have inherited her beauty. Yet I don't see it. Emmett wondered in casually as always and closed the door behind him. My mother smiled at me.

"Bella, your father and I have something to tell you."

Oh, I thought. Please say Emmett is being sent away to boarding school; a cruel thought, but it would please me greatly. I looked over at him with a gapping smile sprawled across my face. He smiled a fake one straight back at me. I focused my attention back at my parents who were looking at us.

"Bella…. Emmett, your father has been given a promotion."

I turned around at Emmett who looked bewildered.

"Wow well done dad…. That's really good." I said as encouragingly as I could.

"Thanks Belles, but the thing is I am not only going to be the one who is going to adapt to the change."

Now my facial expression turned more like Emmett's. Absolutely lost.

"Whaa what do you mean?"

"Well…. My new job is taking us to the countryside."

Wow I thought I have already read about the countryside in books, but had never been there. Suddenly out of the blue, Emmett who was standing by the door rushed forwards towards our parents.

"What do you mean the countryside? My life is here. I refuse to come. Are you joking? Hahaha funny joke, now give it up. Good one….. Ok give it up now."

We all looked at him and a smile crossed my face. I chuckled to myself as he raged around, rating with anger. I mean I don't understand what the big deal was about moving anyway. I guess he would be leaving all his friends and the girls that always seemed to bow at his feet, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Emmett was always one for the ladies. 15 years old and he would have had about 7 girlfriends I think. I mean Emmett wasn't beautiful like our mother he was more about masculinity and arrogance like our father. Thinking about it he is my father, but of a different age.

_**BANG**_

The slamming of the door and stomping of Emmett's feet awakened me from my day dreaming. I looked over at my father who carried on shifting some papers and my mother looking around drastically in a panic. Emmett was so used to getting his own way. It must have come to a shock to him that for once nobody was giving into his pressure. My mother glided out of the room and swiftly up the stairs to comfort Emmett.

"Bella?" I turned around in the entrance of the study and stared into my father's eyes.

"Are you alright about this move?"

"Sure, I am fine." I said with a smile.

"Good I am happy then." He replied.

I walked casually out of the study closing the great double doors as quietly as I could behind me. I mean what could be so bad about the country. It was not as if I was leaving much here anyway. I didn't really have friends. I mean there was Jessica and Angela, but they were more the girls I hid behind so that I was as invisible as I could be. The whole moving thing was more like an adventure. I mean it is not as if anything good would be here or there.


	2. Chapter 2

I have always hated mornings, but this morning was going to be very different I was so eager to get out of bed. I leaped out almost falling over the books that were piled up next to my bed. I stumbled clumsily through the corridor towards the top of the stairs. I rubbed my eyes wearily wiping away last nights sleep.

"Good morning," said the voice from the other end of the staircase.

I looked down into the hallway it was a large room with a round table in the middle. A chandelier hung down from the ceiling and a bay window was near the door where light was streaming in. A blonde, young looking man stood at the bottom of the stairs. Looking very smug and chuckling to himself. Stood by him was Emmett who was laughing his head off. Oh, I thought. My pyjamas! My day couldn't start off any worse. I looked around trying to avoid his eye contact. Then, I caught his eye. I looked at him and I could feel my cheeks burning up. I soon realised that my day had just been made worse. He wore a green, long trench coat and had medals dangling down near the pocket. He was a soldier. I turned around completely humiliated. As I turned around to run back to my room I heard Emmett giggled. I perched at the banisters where the soldier nor Emmett could see me.

"That's Bella for you!" Emmett cried as he burst into hysterics

"She's not like those normal girls she is soooo weird."

"No she isn't like the other girls…. Far from," replied the soldier looking mesmerized.

I looked back over my shoulder and saw the soldier's face light up. A smile sprawled across his pale face. He had very high cheek bones and was about 6 foot tall with blue eyes. He was very handsome. If Jessica or Angela had been here they would have been all over him.

"Hans would you like to see my posters? They need to be packed away in that box."

Emmett pointed to a box in the far corner of the hallway. I looked around very excited to see that boxes filled the hallway and went through into the kitchen. Maids paced up and down putting carefully wrapped ornaments in the boxes. Maybe my day wasn't going to be so bad. That night I had dreamt of the countryside. The rolling hills and forests that travelled for miles and miles and the animals that I could look after. No people would be around as the nearest town was a long way away. Life was going to be easier. I stood up and paced as quickly as I could back to my room to get ready.

Alexia was knelt at the bottom of my bed placing folded clothes into my blue coloured trunk. She was the daughter of the head maid of the house, but she seemed more like a friend to me. She was two years older than me and we shared similar interests. I smiled at her as I knelt gently next to her to help pack away yet endless supplies of clothes, which I never really wore anyway. I glazed over my room thinking about how much of my childhood I had spent there and how much I was going to actually miss the times I had spent in it.

"Are you all right Miss Bella?" Alexia asked as I carried on peering around my room.

"Yes I'm fine, just thinking. You know that soldier that was in the hallway, is he one of Emmett's friends? I mean he looks much older than Emmett, but I cannot think who he is."

"That's Mr Hans. He is moving with your father's regiment with you to Poland. He is accompanying you on the trip there and is staying in the outer house of your new home with two other soldiers," she replied as she continued to pack yet more clothes in my trunk.

I stood up and went to my half empty wardrobe and put on the nicest dress that was left in there. I mean after all Mr Hans was good looking and maybe if I showed a bit of interest in him Emmett would leave me alone.

"You look nice Miss Bella."

"Thanks, but I wish there was something I could do with my hair."

"How about like this?"

Alexia walked over to me and neatly tied my hair in a bun exactly like my mothers. I looked at my reflection and realised how much I actually looked like her.

Four hours later and we were in a private carriage on a train leaving my home Berlin forever. Hans seemed to be keeping Emmett entertained for most of the six hour journey as he was telling him his stories of war he had been to. Hans was exactly like every other soldier in my dad's regiment; handsome, arrogant and darn right stupid. None of them knew anything about anything. They never had their own opinion; the only thing that mattered to them was the Nazi campaign and being remembered in history for helping to win the war.

"What do you think of the War Bella?" Questioned the arrogant blonde figure sitting across the carriage from me.

"I don't know." I replied shyly as I tried to forget all the ranting I had previously done in my head. Not that my opinion was allowed to be spoken anyway because I certainly did not agree with some of these things that Hitler and his army did to some of these people. If I ever said this to any of my family I would be sent away to boarding school and they would try to forget me. Hans and Emmett's stupid banter about the war carried on for the rest of the journey. My mother would glance over at me sympathetically as she knew how much I hated the whole war thing. My father however, just stared blankly at the papers that were sprawled across him. It just felt like it was never going to end. I walked over to the window and sat on another chair and peered out of the window. Everything I imagined I could see; valleys, meadows and forests that drove on for yards. Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted it. That thing that will haunt my mind forever. The thing that I will never forgive my father for being part of. The people's farm.


	3. Chapter 3

As the car pulled into the driveway I stared out of the window and looked up at the dreary looking house. It was massive yet it looked like it had not been lived in for centuries. Soldiers were marching up and down the courtyard moving furniture, which had been driven here, three days before. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a small, little door. It looked so out of place compared to the rest of the house.

_**KNOCK, KNOCK**_

Hans' pale faced was poked in the window and he was mouthing something that I didn't really understand. I just nodded along and pretended that I understood everything. Ever since we had got off the train he had been pestering me all the time. I took it as a compliment at first, but after a while it got very irritating. The whole forty two hour car journey was spent with him constantly asking me questions or when he was not doing this he was just staring at me. I was leaning against the window when suddenly the door was opened and I fell out straight into Hans' arms. I looked him in the face and blushed.

"Thanks." I said trying to avoid his eye.

"You do seem to always get into trouble don't you Miss Bella?"

"Not all the time." I said as I tried to get out of his grasp.

"Well if you ever need someone to help you I will be happy to. Whatever it is I will be there in a flash."

"Thanks." I replied in a very monosyllabic way.

I stood up and patted my dress down so that it covered more of my legs. I wondered around the courtyard looking at the plain looking garden.

"Something will have to be done about this." My mother answered as she walked across the courtyard with one of the most magnificent smiles on her face.

We looked around together at each little flower that was dying and then I saw it again. That door. It looked so very interesting. I slowly walked towards it, fascinated to what could be behind it.

"Miss Bella." Hans exclaimed as he stepped in front of my way.

"I don't think you're allowed behind there."

"Bella darling. Come away from there that is not where you're allowed to be. Your father and I have decided that the courtyard and the house are the only places you're allowed to be at the moment. Just let us settle in before you do all your exploring."

I stared blankly at Hans' face, which smiled sweetly back at me.

Yuck, he creepd me out so much. Emmett quite nicely on the train reminded me that he was 24, seven years older than me. I turned around and walked as quickly as I could into the house. I looked around the new hallway, which was nothing like the old one. It was spacious and could fit up to a hundred people in at one time. There was no longer a beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling but four gigantic bay windows where one could sit. I walked up the staircase that winded up into a hallway that I couldn't see from the bottom. I took the first right and the second left. Great, I was already lost so typical and that was when I saw it. The most amazing blue coloured room. It was quite small and cosy with a double bed that filled most of the room and a wardrobe in the corner. Then there was this make-up table, it was magnificent. It stood by the bay window and was white with blue flowers. I walked over to it and sat at the small stool that was tucked carefully underneath it.

"I thought you would like it," said the voice from behind me.

I shot up almost falling off the back of the stool and turned round to see who the strange voice was. Hans strolled towards me, bringing a cool breeze with him. He stroked the top of the make-up table.

"I hoped that you would choose this room. I got it delivered here three days ago with the other furniture. It was my mother's when I was younger. She loved it. She was just as beautiful as you."

I could feel my eyes starting to roll as this man was never going to leave me alone ever. I stopped as he turned back around.

"Well I hope you like it." He looked slightly offended as he said this so I felt very guilty.

"Yes, I do thanks. It's like a house warming present and it fits perfectly so every time I do my makeup and my hair I can look into the distance.

"HANS!" shouted my father's voice from downstairs.

At this point Hans saluted me with the Nazi wave and walked out the room. How I hated that man he annoyed me so much, but it was a very beautiful table and I shouldn't be ungrateful. I walked over to this magnificent piece of furniture and again placed myself carefully on the stool and looked into the distance. Trees and flowers covered the fields that went on for miles. That's when I saw it again. There was a main gate with four German soldiers stood outside. Electric wire ran round the perimeter of the closure and four more soldiers marched the perimeter with dogs. Inside this enclosure were men and boys that were building what looked like shelters? They were wearing blue striped pyjama type things and each person looked the same. Each man wore a hat that matched their clothes. A soldier whipped a man who was so frail; he could hardly look like he could walk. Sorrow swept these men and boys, sadness swarmed the air. I couldn't bear to look.

Supper time was a family occasion that I didn't mind to much. When we had arrived it was just after lunch. I had spent most of my day with Alexia un-packing my life in this new place. Hans and Emmett had been playing ball outside and my mother already started on her garden, whilst my father sat in his office reading papers. I wasn't sure what his new job included and I dare not asked as it was highly secretive, not even my mother knew.

"How is the un-packing coming along Bella?" My mother asked.

"Just fine, Alexia and I have almost finished."

"And how do you like the make-up table, it was highly kind of Mr Hans wasn't it?"

"Yes." I replied shyly looking down at my plate.

"BELLA LIKES HANS! AHAHAHAHA" Emmett laughed as he stuck his fork into a piece of meat and gobbled it down in one.

"No I don't! You're so immature. Why don't you just grow up?"

"But Bella he has been rather kind." My mother edgily alleged.

"Just stop this stupid banter. If Bella likes Mr Hans then all good for her I wish her the best, but right now I think this meal should be eaten in a civilised manner."

My father looked around catching my mother's eyes and she looked down. Emmett piped down and I stared at my plate of food that I really didn't want to eat.

"Bella…. Emmett one thing please do not enter the back garden. It is strictly out of bounds"

"Why?" Emmett asked angrily.

"I mean there is no where else to go except the courtyard and we can't really go out there because cars always drive in and out of there. When there is no cars the stupid man and his dog guarding the gate always shouts at me for attracting the dog with the ball."

"Just don't do it Emmett!" My father replied almost shouting.

Emmett looked down very sheepishly he had never been confronted like this before. We were obviously not allowed out there. The room became silent again.

"MORE WINE!" Bellowed my father from the other end of the table.

Through the double door walked a pale looking man, he definitely was not German. He looked like no man I had ever seen before. All his hair on his head had been shaven off and he looked like he had not washed in weeks. He wore those funny pyjamas that I had seen all the other people wearing earlier on. I caught his eye and he quickly looked away. He poured the red wine carefully in my father's glass. He looked so sad I had never seen anyway look that way in my life. It looked like life itself had been driven out of him by some sort of ghost.

After supper Emmett and I sat at the top of the staircase listening to my father and mother argue. This had never happened before. We were in shock when we heard the first scream.

"I thought you said they weren't going to be here Markus?"

"I said keep them from far away from our children. That was the condition."

"But we need someone to help around this gigantic house Alexia and her mother can't clean this place and cook. I can't get the soldiers to do everything here as well."

"But I don't want anything to do with this and I don't want my children involved either!"

At this point our mother ran out of the study crying. She walked up the stairs and glanced at us and just walked down the corridor to her room.

"I don't understand." Emmett queried.

"Neither do I Emmett; neither do I."


End file.
